Instagram Adds Audience Growth Tracking and Reels Engagement Data to Insights

Overview

• Instagram introduces new performance metrics, giving creators and marketers micro-level guidance on audience engagement.
• These updates sharpen engagement measurement across Reels, carousels, and posts, while adding improved follower growth tracking.
• House of Marketers insights for marketers

Instagram’s latest update introduced a new wave of updates to its Insights tab. These updates are designed to give creators and marketers micro-level guidance on audience engagement.

The refreshed performance metrics not only sharpen how engagement is measured across Reels, carousels, and posts, but also expand on follower growth signals.

These tools are not just analytics upgrades; they’re practical levers for shaping growth in this shifting social media landscape.

Here’s a closer look at what’s changing, and why it matters.

Pinpointing “Like” Activity in Reels & Carousel Posts

Creators can now see when a user has tapped “Like” within the playback of a Reel. This feature is applied to carousel posts as well, with insights on which image a user was viewing when they tapped “Like”.

This small but important detail helps marketers move beyond “how many likes” to “why this moment?” By showing which scenes or transitions struck a chord, brands can begin tailoring content formats and creative timing with greater accuracy.

For marketers, this opens the door to smarter A/B testing across visuals, allowing them to refine which images to lead with and which to save for later in the sequence.

While this metric won’t always capture the full intent behind an engagement, it does highlight where attention peaks within a carousel. And because understanding who is engaging is just as important as what they are engaging with, Instagram is also expanding its demographic data at the post level.

Micro-level Demographic Data & Audience Tracking

Previously, demographic insights were only available in aggregate across an entire account. Now, Instagram is giving marketers the ability to break this down by individual post.

This change offers a sharper lens through which age groups, genders, and locations respond best to specific content. Of course, driving engagement is important, but for most businesses, the ultimate goal is growth. That’s why Instagram is also introducing a new way to track which content is bringing in fresh followers.

Instagram will now highlight which posts, videos, or Stories generated the most new followers. This makes it easier for marketers to connect creative performance directly to growth achieved.

Instead of guessing which posts helped expand reach, brands can now pinpoint exactly which content converts casual browsers into loyal followers.

“Views” & “Sends per Reach” as the Primary Metric

Instagram has been shifting to make views the main metric over follower counts and likes since last year. Now it is moving to fully establish “Views” as its universal performance metric, replacing “Accounts Reached” in the Insights graph.

The shift reflects a strategic simplification. By focusing on views across posts, Reels, and Stories, Instagram gives marketers one clear benchmark to evaluate success.

So why the change?

For months, Instagram has been working to reframe how creators think about metrics, shifting the focus away from follower counts. The reality is that people don’t follow accounts the same way they used to.

Users are increasingly relying on the algorithmic For You-style feed to surface content they might like, reducing the need to actively follow accounts.

Adam Mosseri himself has emphasized that what matters most is not follower counts, but whether your content is consistently seen and shared. This is also why Instagram has introduced “Sends per Reach” as another core metric. This measures how often people share your posts in DMs. Sharing has become a primary way content circulates on Instagram, often more than Likes.

But for these insights to be meaningful, Instagram also needed to simplify how performance is measured. That’s why the platform is making one more significant change to its analytics framework.

House of Marketers Insights

For brands, these new Instagram metrics are a powerful reminder that performance tracking is evolving to reward quality of engagement over quantity of reach

These updates represent a strategic shift for marketers offering,

• More precise signals for creative decision-making
• Clearer tracking of audience growth
• A simplified focus on views as the universal benchmark

For marketers, the practical benefit lies in understanding where audiences engage in Reels, which carousel slides spark attention, or what content converts casual scrollers into long-term followers.

Don’t get hung up on Likes and followers. What matters is whether people are viewing and forwarding your content.

Marketers who embrace these insights will be able to adapt faster, test smarter, and double down on content that delivers both engagement and audience growth.

Conclusion 

These updates may seem minor in isolation, but collectively, they represent a larger evolution in how Meta & Instagram are aligning their platforms with user behaviour and creative demand.

These updates build on Instagram’s broader push to expand creative possibilities. Over the past few months alone, we’ve seen:

• Blend Reels for seamless storytelling
• 3-minute Reels to expand narrative scope
• Experimental AI ad placements to enhance discovery
• Testing ad placements alongside popular Reels and more.

At House of Marketers, we view this as an invitation for brands to rethink how they build community. If you are looking to capitalise on these opportunities and turn them into action, House of Marketers can help. 

At House of Marketers, we help businesses craft impactful influencer marketing campaigns across TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. Contact House of Marketers today and future-proof your marketing strategy!